Poland requests extradition of sabotage suspects from Belarus

WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland has asked Belarus to extradite two Ukrainian citizens accused of carrying out railway sabotage on behalf of Russia, the Polish foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Warsaw says the two men fled to Belarus after two acts of sabotage on Sunday on a railway line to Ukraine, one involving an explosion.

The request was delivered to the Belarusian charge d’affaires in Warsaw on Wednesday, according to state news agency PAP. Prosecutors have charged the men, identified as Oleksandr K. and Yevhenii I., in absentia with sabotage on Poland’s rail network.

Already strained relations between Poland and Belarus have sunk to new lows since Minsk's ally Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The Belarusian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the Polish request.

Poland said on Wednesday it would close the last Russian consulate in its territory and deploy thousands of soldiers to protect infrastructure in response to a railway explosion it blames on Moscow.

Warsaw says the two Ukrainian men were acting on the orders of Russian intelligence. Moscow has denied involvement, accusing the Polish government of 'Russophobia'.

In 2024 Belarus granted asylum to Polish judge Tomasz Szmydt, who is wanted by Warsaw on espionage charges.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Editing by William Maclean)